Fireplace Makeover With Details and Before and After Pictures

This project is a good alternative for those of you that desire to give your outdated fireplace a new look without all the mess that tearing it down brick by brick would create. My husband and I had never done a project like this before and neither one of us had any carpentry experience so if we were able to do it anyone can!

This post by The Lettered Cottage started the ideas swirling in my head. I drew some pictures and haphazardly :o) covered part of the fireplace with white cardboard so that my husband could kinda see what I wanted it to look like.

We ended up using..

about 10 furring strips
6' of Crown molding
6' of 3"x1" mdf
5' of 1"x 4" wood
liquid nails
6 concrete anchors
two 4' x 8' x 1/4 inch plywood luan (luan wood is a mid grade mahogany plywood)
lots of caulk
a bit of wood filler
a jig saw
a few carpenter clamps
primer
paint
and a drill
We began by attaching the furring strips to the brick facade with liquid nails (the painters tape was used to secure them to the brick while the adhesive dried)

Hubby also drilled two concrete anchors (pictured below) into the first and last of the furring strips for extra support.

While the adhesive dried hubby used the jigsaw to cut the 1/4 inch plywood luan facade that would be nailed onto the furring strips.

The facade he cut out was carefully nailed directly onto the furring strips.

The original fireplace mantle was made out of three sizes of pink brick that were stacked up on top of each other. It was a pretty horrible sight...

Creating a mantle without chiseling off the protruding brick shelf took lots of effort and I am very proud of hubby for doing such an amazing job. He started by attaching a 1"x 4" piece of wood to the bottom layer of mantel shelf bricks with two concrete anchors. He then attached a piece of crown molding to the second layer of mantle shelf bricks. Lastly he attached a 3"x11" piece of mdf to the crown molding to cover the top layer of mantle shelf bricks. The mantle that hubby ended up creating is very beautiful and was so inexpensive to make. Bingo!

Hubby cut leftover pieces of wood into wedge shapes and used them to secure the crown molding to the mantel shelf brick. Hopefully the pictures below will help you better understand how it was all accomplished.:)

After the mantle was done we attached furring strips to the top half of the fireplace brick just like we had done to the bottom half. We cut the 1/4" inch wood luan and nailed it onto the furring strips.

I then used wood filler on all the nail holes and caulking on all the edges. I coated everything (except the inside of the firebox!) with Olympic's zero voc primer which provided fabulous coverage. I painted the area around the fireplace box with Olympics Flat latex Zero Voc paint in Black Magic and the rest of the fireplace in Cloud White (flat latex) a Benjamin Moore color.

Before (on the day we moved in)

After

The inside of the firebox will be painted with black, heat resistant paint sometime before winter arrives :). You can find two more of our makeovers here and here. Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them.

104 comments:

Absolutely stunning! Kudos to Jedrix! You two make a great team. ;o) One of the most amazing fireplace transformations I 've seen out there in blog world (and, believe me, I've seen many!) What I love most about this room is the way you've combined traditional, cottage, and modern style in a way that flows and works together seamlessly. Even the fireplace has a touch of modern with it's straight lines and smooth surface, but it's softened by the traditional mantel. Great work guys! Love you both and miss you all so much.

When you first shared pictures of your mantel makeover some time ago, I was blown away and kind of intimidated at the same time. Just looking at the after picture made me think that project would be way too difficult for me to ever think of attempting something like that. You did a great job of breaking it down into simple, easy to understand steps and you gave an ordinary diy-attempter (I know that's not a word :) girl like me hope that I could actually do something like this one day. I am truly amazed by this project you and your hubby did. Way to go guys! Keep the before & after and how-to posts coming. :)

This is awesome! We have a brick fireplace that we're going to redo in a similar way. I've been thinking about it but haven't drown anything up so it's really good to see how someone else has done it! Thanks so much for sharing! =D

Simply amazing job..!! I saw the LC's fireplace makeover yesterday and it is so inspiring. I love your simplicity, this might work better for our own brick fireplace in a smaller room than the LC. I need multiple fireplaces to try all these great ideas. BTW I also love your bookcase on the right of the room, just beautiful!!

OH MY GOODNESS! This is absolutely incredible...gorgeous! You guys should be so proud of yourselves and truly the entire room and decor are just stunning. Thank you so much for sharing this with us at Inspiration Friday this week!Vanessa

That is Amazing! I kept going to the before and after pics. I think you did an incredible job at that! Your new fireplace and room makeover is gorgeous! Thanks for linking it up at Home Sweet Home!Sherry

Your fireplace looks amazing! We have a similar brick fireplace that I would love to makeover, and this is such a great tutorial. I was looking at your home tour and I would love to add a couple of your room images to the inspiration galleries on my site and include you in a feature post. What are the paint colors in your dining room and playroom? Let me know if you're interested!

I am so impressed! Actually floored might be a better description. This transformation is stunning! You did an amazing job. The whole room looks like it could have been torn out of a glossy. The style of your room exactly defines my style! I would feel so at home in that room. Great job and enjoy your beautiful new space!

That is simply UNBELIEVABLE! I have to book mark this for my Mom, as she is not happy with her brick fireplace at all. Thanks for sharing with my newbie party. Have fun. Please link back to me as well.

Oh my gosh! FABULOUS! I am forwarding this to my hubby so we can do this in our home. I was just talking to him about doing something to re-vamp the fireplace.AWESOME!Found you via Finding Fabulous Linky Party :)http://www.releasemecreate.blogspot.com

Thank you for linking up to Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop. This is incredible. Definitely worth all the effort. I'm a new follower. By the way, have you posted about the piece your TV sits on? I love it and would like to know where you got it?

By looking at these photos, the transformation of your fireplace turned out wonderfully. Adding a white layout for your room definitely suits the place. It is very impressive to do the remodeling project by yourselves.

I am really wanting to know--have you used your fireplace since the remodel? We are in the process of redoing our old brick fireplace and, like you, have sort of framed our existing brick with wood to create a flush surface for the stone veneer. Someone posed the question of whether or not it was a fire hazard to have the wood against the brick... and now it has made me a little nervous. Just wanted to know if you have used your fireplace.

We def plan to update our ugly fireplace following your directions. I do have one question before we begin. The luan frame around the firebox...does the luan stand away from the brick due to the furring strips? What do/did you do about that? I actually can't see any space in your pics but my husband asked:)Thanks so much for going before!

The fireplace looks AWESOME! About how long did this project take? I would like to do this before my house warming party. Also, how how much did the entire costs? Thanks for sharing your project. Your "hubby" did an awesome job! My name is LaShunda. My email is Mzladybug78@yahoo.com

That is awesome! I will have to talk to my Wife about doing something similar. We have our old brick fireplace, here in Fort Worth, Texas. I think that I could make it look really cool though with remodeling it.

How has the white surface over the firebox opening held up in the last 2 years? I would love to do this with our fireplace but the bricks directly over the opening are a bit blackened after 25 years. Will this happen with the painted surface too?

My siblings and I are helping my parents do an extreme home makeover of their 50's era home. We need to fix up their brick fireplace. What is a great website to consult about current fireplace home remodeling trends?

I didn't know that you could update a fireplace seemingly so easily! That looks so great!! I think that I want to get a brick fireplace in our new home! Would you happen to know of someone that could help us near Fort Worth, Texas? http://www.swbrickandfireplace.com

I love how you remodeled this fireplace. It looks great. It definitely transformed the ambiance in the room. For a collection of custom fireplace mantels check out http://www.customfiremantels.com/mantels/ All mantels are hand-crafted and built per order! Mix & match design elements, styles,and sizing. Everything is customizable!

Great remodel. The fireplace looks amazing. Just remember to keep flammable objects, to include decor, 3 feet away from the blaze. The books holding up the lamp has me a bit worried. Avoid a home fire with a few readjustments.